Smith, John

SMITH, PARISH, BRISTOL, BISHOP

Posted By: Mary H. Cochrane, Volunteer
Date: 7/8/2019 at 18:42:50

Biographical and Historical Record of Ringgold and Decatur Counties, Iowa, (Lewis Publishing Company (1887)), p. 597:

"JOHN SMITH, farmer, resides on section 12, High Point Township, where he owns eighty acres of land. He was born in Yates County, New York, September 20, 1808, son of Ezra and Nellie (Parish) Smith. His father was a carpenter by trade, and built the first store in Penn Yann, New York. When John was eight years of age his father bound him out, and he never saw him again. He came West in the fall of 1854, and settled in Wayne City, and in 1874 came to Decatur County. He was married in Worthing, Ohio, in 1834, to Asenath Bristol, born in Connecticut, July 1, 1808. Their children are -- Eliza, now a widow, has three children -- Mary B., Lucy and Minerva; Sarah, wife of George P. Bishop, and David E. Mr. Smith held the office of justice of the peace two years before he came West, and four years in Wayne County. His father and two brothers were in the war of 1812, and his grandfather served in the war of the Revolution. Politically he is a Republican. In his early life, before the time of railroads in his State he was a boatman, running on the river."

(Submitted to the Decatur County GenWeb site by Christy Jay, email: Jaygenie@aol.com)